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Tag: Dopey Challenge

Dopey Training Has Begun

July 20, 2014

I hadn’t planned on doing back to back runs this weekend but it happened and it was successful. I had planned an early wakeup for Saturday and assumed I would sleep late on Sunday. After my 5 mile run Saturday I decided I want a repeat performance the next day to put some calories in the bank, to be honest. We have a family party to go to today and I want to be able to enjoy some of Nana’s potato salad without the guilt.

I use the LoseIt app and already I am under budget!
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I had a five mile run on the schedule from my coach, Jeff Galloway. It was a slower 5 mile run but I was pleased with it. When the alarm went off today I hopped out of bed, had a cup of tea and a piece of bread and headed out the door. My pace was pretty quick. After the first mile I was under 12 minutes. After my second mile I was still under 12 minutes. Then I put on some music and I really picked it up. Today’s run really gave me the confidence I need for the Dopey challenge.

I had been listening to podcasts about reaching your dreams and how you can be successful by envisioning yourself as successful. I had truly believe in that.

Challenges You May Face While Making your Dreams Come True

July 18, 2014

Yesterday I talked about taking the first step towards achieving your dream.  Today I want to talk about some of the issues that you might face while taking those steps.  Many of us have dreams whether it be to start a new job, or to quit a job to start your own business, lose weight, run a race, change careers completely.  Whatever your dream is, it is yours alone.  No one can make that dream come true for you.  You have to work for it on your own.

While you are working to pursue that dream you may come across some challenges.  It’s how you deal with those challenges that are important for the success of your end result.  You may feel  some of the following things, but don’t let them overcome you:

– Uncomfortable – we tend to stay where we are because it is comfortable and we are familiar with everything involved.
– Scared – the fear of the what-ifs or the unknowns are very strong feelings to keep us from moving forward
– You’ll be tempted to stay with the familiar and safe place – In regards to work, job security is never a guarantee
– Doubt – Sometimes you will doubt yourself or someone will doubt you which makes you doubt yourself
– You can’t please everyone and your decision is yours alone.  If people you care about makes you doubt your decision, it’s ok to continue on with what you want to do because ultimately it’s your life and your dream.

After you get over the negative feelings and hurdles you will begin to realize that your dream is something you are good at and that’s why it was your dream in the first place.  You will begin to feel confident that you can do what you set out to do.  You will realize who smart you really are.  You will stand out on your own.  If you are like me, I am listening to podcasts about dreamers and am seeing that other people are reaching their dreams and are going through many of the same experiences I am going through.  You may begin to network with those people and it will help build your confidence.  Those new acquaintances are good people to have on your side, especially when the doubt and fear begins to creep in.  You can reach out to them to express your feelings and may learn that they too had the same feelings at one point when working towards their dreams.

Something that I am terrible at is being patient.  During the times when you want to know what will happen if you do this or that, there are times where you may have to wait.  Waiting isn’t easy!  It gives your mind time to think and time to think brings in fear and doubt.  You may want to run faster and get a better finish time, but you can’t get faster over night.  You have to be patient and work up to that pace slowly in order to get faster. You are going to get hurt when you do too much too soon.  Did you quit your job to go back to school?  Well you don’t graduate overnight.  It may be hard to get all the basics courses done before you even get to the core classes related to the major that you are working towards.  Be patient.  It will come.

The best things in life are worth waiting for.  It took me a VERY long time to start my family, but now as I look back all of those years are a blur now.  I am so busy and happy with my family and am so blessed by the life that I have and waited so long to have.

Have faith and believe in yourself that you will achieve your goals.  If you have achieved your goal and are now living your dream you will feel light and happy.  Your life will have a burning desire to get started and do what you love.  Isn’t that worth waiting for and overcoming all of your hurdles to get to as the end result?  I know that is what I want for my life.  I know that while I have many miles ahead of me on my calendar for the training plan for Dopey, I am looking forward to checking those miles off and seeing the success of all of my hard work.

Don’t give up on your dreams because of the feelings that you may have listed above.  Not to sound morbid, but the number one regret people have when on their death beds is that they were never brave enough to achieve their dreams.  Don’t put things off, we are not promised tomorrow.  The time is now.

First Step To Reaching Your Dream

July 17, 2014

I seem to be on a dream theme these days. I came across The Dreamers Podcast from Joe Pardo, which I had the pleasure to be a guest of on his show (coming soon); and also the Dream Warriors Podcast from Doc Kennedy and they have been very inspiring.  Today 59 years ago, one man had a dream that he made come true even when no one believed in it – Disneyland was born.  Walt is known for pursuing our dreams – “If you can dream it, you can do it”.

While listening to Doc’s podcasts today I got something out if it that I appreciated. In order for your dream to come true, you have to take the first step.  What great advice, but sometimes that first step feels like you are walking off a cliff. It doesn’t have to. Try taking baby steps.

Your first steps can be:

– To sign up for a class
– Attend a seminar
– Get books about the subject you are interested in
– Listen to podcasts related to the topic

As you educate yourself in the field you are interested in you will gain confidence.  Facing a new dream takes courage and risk.  Sometimes the fear of the unknown is why our dreams never come true.  Sometimes you need to give up things in order to achieve your goal.  But if it is that important to you, the end result will mean more and you may have no regret for the things you gave up.

It could be as simple as this… you want to run your first 5K.  So what would you have to give up to meet such a goal?  Well, you may have to give up a little sleep on a Saturday morning in the summer so you can get out and run in the early morning hours when it is cooler.  What’s more important to you, the sleep or working towards your first race finish?

Another road block towards reaching your dream is usually fear.  You are afraid of the unknowns and the what ifs.  If you let fear get in your way and paralyze you, you will never reach your dreams.  For instance, if you were working toward that new finish line (a further distance or your first race) you need to think of what those fears are and talk yourself through them.  What if I get hurt going further, what if I can’t finish, what if the weather is bad on race day.  I’ve had many of those things actually happen to me during training and on race day, but you learn from it and it makes you a better achiever.

I came across this quote from Anaïs Nin which said:

“And the day came when the risk to remain tight in a bud was more painful than the risk it took to blossom.”

 

Very powerful quote for me.  Take your first steps.  What have you got to lose?  You may lose something, but what you will gain will be so much greater!  I know I am so scared of the Dopey challenge this January, but when I cross the finish line on January 11, 2015 I am going to be so proud of my accomplishment!  I also hope that during this process my children will see that I set my goal, worked hard for it and achieved it regardless of the fears and concerns that I faced during the way.

I am also afraid of my first sprint tri that I will be participating in on September 7.  But I am making the effort to get in more swimming this summer and have to get back on the bike again (I have been lacking since May).  But I will go for it.  If I fail, I fail, but I will feel better for giving it a shot.

What is your dream or goal?  What fears are holding you back from achieving them?

 

Star Wars Registration Opens Today!

June 10, 2014

starwarsWill you or did you register for the runDisney Star Wars Half Marathon Weekend today? Did you take advantage of the early AP and DVC registration opportunity? Will this runDisney event sell out yet another famous race?

Like the Avengers race that recently opened up for registration and sold out in record time (less than 2 hours), I believe this race is going to sell out even faster.  This has been the race everyone has been waiting for; however, there are more complications involved with the logistics of it.

First of all, it is the weekend following the marathon weekend.  If runners are participating in the Dopey challenge, 4 races in 4 days, they will then have to fly to Anaheim prior to Friday to pick up their race packets to participate in the 5K beginning on Friday.  It also means 3 more early wake up calls for the races.  If you live on the East Coast that shouldn’t be too hard, but your body is recovering from Dopey.

Second, you will be eating up a lot of your vacation time in January if you are doing Dopey then Star Wars.  For Dopey, you have to be in Florida by Wednesday to pick up your race packets and run the first race, the 5K on Thursday.  The races end Sunday so if possible, you could fly home for a few days then turn around and head to California for Thursday.

Third, you’ll be spending more money on airfare and hotel and food.  These are the consequences for registering for these races!

Fourth, Disney did add another challenge to the mix a month ago when they announced the Castaway Cay Challenge.  This is the cruise that leaves the day after Marathon Weekend and sails for 4 days, arriving pack to port on Friday.  You can still hop a flight to California for Star Wars, but you will miss the 5K.  This is also an additional pricey race to add to your list within the first month of 2015.  The price for the Castaway Cay Challenge is $65 but that’s the race only.  You still have the $1000+ cost of the cruise.

There are some positives about all of this.  If you are addicted to the bling, then you will go home with 5 medals if you participate in the Star Wars Challenge after marathon weekend because you will have the 5K, 10K, half marathon, Star Wars Challenge AND a coast to coast medal.

Is it worth it?  It would be to me, but I really can’t fork out the cash for another race registration and travel expenses.   runDisney marathon weekend is becoming the largest race weekend event in the country, and it does bring in economic activity to the area.  The same is also true when adding a race weekend event to California.  That is a positive impact of these races for the surrounding areas.  But given the time of year and the costs associated with all of the races, I just can’t do them all.

I was a fan of Star Wars when I was young, but my kids aren’t into it yet.  So even though I am not registering this year, it may be something that I’d show interest in the future.  It also depends on if it will be back in the East Coast or if it will remain in Disneyland.  For those of you registering today, may the force be with you!

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I Am Doing it! I’m Registering for the 2015 Dopey Challenge – YIKES!

April 16, 2014

dopey medalsSo after much thought, I have decided to do the Dopey Challenge this year.  After running the full marathon with Kimberly, Gail and Alison and seeing all the bling they were given at the end, I felt left out.  I also didn’t wake up 4 days in a row and run all of the races, but I am prepared to do that in 2015.  For those who don’t know what the Dopey Challenge it, it is 4 runDisney races in 4 days. The first day is the 5K, the second is the 10K, the third is the half marathon and the fourth is the marathon.  Yea it’s crazy!

I am also comfortable with my decision to do Dopey because I have a plan in my head of how I will accomplish it, when my family will arrive and how I will train.  I am using Jeff Galloway as an e-coach right now and it was the best decision I have made in my running career so far.  I will continue to work with him towards my goal of Dopey.

This week I was watching Ali Vincent’s video recap of the Inaugural Dopey challenge and even though she was scared sick about doing the 4 races, she did it and she lived to tell about it.  I had the chance to meet her at the starting line of the race this year!  She is so nice and very down to earth. Not only did she run the races, but she was also busy at the expo and then was visiting the parks with her mother!

I do not intend to spend a lot of time in the parks before the race.  My goal is to save the days after the marathon to enjoy the parks with my family.  So I’d like for them to arrive on Friday night or Saturday morning and then cheer me on for Sunday and spend time in Florida for the days after the races.  This may mean that they can’t run a kid race this year and I am not so sure I want them to miss out on that chance again.  It’s a minor decision to think about at this point.  Since registration will fill up quickly I have to be 100% sure I am doing Dopey and right now I am.

As I continue through the summer with my races and my Dopey training I will keep you informed of my progress!  It’s not going to be an easy task but I am willing to give it my all!

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